DPS to streamline driver's licensing with megacenters

Mike Ward

Wednesday

Aug 31, 2011 at 12:01 AMDec 12, 2018 at 10:13 AM

With a $63 million infusion from the Legislature, state officials hope to cut the legendary long lines and irritating red tape at driver's license centers across Texas with upgraded technology and new "megacenters" in Austin and three other metro areas.

Texas Department of Public Safety officials on Tuesday provided the first peek at their plans for the expedited new system: $600,000 will be spent to "refresh" existing centers, credit cards will be accepted at all locations, online payments will be allowed, and new uniforms will be given to all employees.

"The goal is to do driver license renewals in 30 minutes," said Rebecca Davio, a DPS assistant director in charge of the driver's license division. "We're also looking to schedule driving tests online."

Texans for years have endured long waits when they go to DPS offices to obtain or renew their licenses. The chronic delays angered legislative leaders so much that they once considered putting the licensing division in a new state agency.

For those Texans who, thanks to a new voter identification law, might soon need a license or ID card to vote, the changes will also be welcome.

DPS issues about 6 million driver's licenses and identification cards annually, including renewals, officials have said.

The division, which has more than 1,100 employees, also processes driving records for Texas motorists. It has 177 full-time offices, plus 39 that are open part time.

"Anything that will make this horrible process better is good," said Amy Hale, an Austin waitress who, on a recent afternoon, waited for an hour with her two children at the DPS office at 5805 N. Lamar Blvd. to renew her license.

"I'll believe it when I see it."

In May, when most state agencies were facing whopping budget cuts and were laying off employees and shutting programs, DPS officials said the driver's license program received a 40 percent increase in funding to fix the licensing mess.

With $63 million in additional funds, Davio said the division in the coming year will hire more than 360 employees, pay current employees more , purchase new equipment and install $3 million worth of new technology .

The following year , she said, six megacenters will be operational and $3 million worth of additional new technology will be installed to complete a plan she said is designed to "transform the driver license experience statewide."

The Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas each will have two megacenters — licensing offices designed to handle large volumes of business, instead of the smaller centers that DPS has historically operated. Those areas have been plagued by customer complaints for years.

One megacenter will open in Austin and another in San Antonio.

A year ago, DPS initiated a successful pilot program, starting in Austin, to cut the wait times with express lanes for shorter transactions and appointments made online, among other changes.

One of the megacenters already is open in Houston, but locations for the other centers, which will be leased, have not yet been determined, Davio said.

Some changes already have started to take effect, and they should reduce the licensing wait: Card delivery times have been shortened to under 10 days, and queuing systems (electronic take-a-number systems) have been installed at the agency's 59 busiest offices to speed up the process for waiting customers.

But officials said that with the changes, care is being taken to ensure that the new process cannot be easily compromised by criminals.

The prevention of trafficking in fake driver's licenses has been a high priority in anti-terrorist intelligence and enforcement efforts.

"The most valuable document in the U.S. is a driver's license," Col. Steve McCraw, the DPS director, told the Texas Public Safety Commission at a meeting last week, highlighting the security issues that are present in the licensing process.